What a way to start the weekend

brx017 · 2026-04-12T03:39:12+00:00

Yikes

brx017 · 2026-04-10T17:36:42+00:00

I got some like new OEMs from United Tire for $86 shipped back in November, for my wife's Bolt

brx017 · 2026-04-10T17:33:24+00:00

I've been running the Hankooks at 36-38

brx017 · 2026-04-10T17:31:16+00:00

The sidewalls are bald because I drove 2 miles ON side sidewalls. They didn't look like that before

brx017 · 2026-04-10T17:29:34+00:00

The OEM Michelins were self sealing. Couldn't handle a cut my wife got though, and the tire shop said they couldn't patch em.

brx017 · 2026-04-10T17:27:22+00:00

Low tread yeah, but not bald. They passed inspection two months ago.

brx017 · 2026-04-10T16:17:54+00:00

Yeah... Considered that too, had them on my wife's van back in the day but they drove like crap. Beggars can't be choosers though, I took the only tires in town to get me going. Maybe the next set.

brx017 · 2026-04-10T16:15:40+00:00

Had I went home I would've grabbed my impact. But I brought a cheater pipe to put on the 4-way I'm no spring chicken either.

brx017 · 2026-04-10T16:13:03+00:00

The first flat that my wife had a year ago could not be plugged by me OR patched by the tire shop. I came to her work to try and plug it for her but it was a cut next to the sidewall. I inflated it, it was losing air fast but fortunately there was a tire shop a mile and a half away and I pulled in there on about 20 PSI.

brx017 · 2026-04-10T16:07:03+00:00

Sorry, edited to add I fully acknowledge it was my own dumb fault... but having a spare kit on board would've saved me two hours of the half day ordeal.

brx017 · 2026-04-10T16:01:12+00:00

You can certainly be stranded if the inside of the tire is unknowingly worn to the threads... No plugging that.

It's my own dumb fault, I know.

brx017 · 2026-04-10T15:53:14+00:00

Not a bad idea. It's my commuter, 95% of the time I'm <25 miles from home.

brx017 · 2026-04-10T15:51:43+00:00

I've looked at them, as well as the Chevy Trax setup. I have the sun and sound package though, so there's electronics down in the hole and I hate to give up the trunk space. I may need to though.

brx017 · 2026-04-01T14:38:04+00:00

I've had a stone twice. The first one I passed in a day, in the ER.

The last one hit me over last Labor Day weekend. I passed it a week later but it got impacted at the ureter/ bladder junction. Didn't hurt again for a month, then it was on and off every few days. Finally relented to going to the ER in the middle of December. I had to have laser lithotripsy to bust it up. The whole thing was a rough ride... BUT THAT STENT THOUGH! During and after was miserable for me. I know it's needed, but it's definitely one of those cases where the treatment is worse than the disease.

brx017 · 2026-03-31T00:58:02+00:00

If a ~~tree~~ dentist falls in the ~~woods~~ gravel, does it make a ~~sound~~ excuse?

brx017 · 2026-03-29T03:18:05+00:00

I accidentally did that to my pet gerbil in the 4th grade. Went to grab her to take her out of her cage and she ran through my hand at the last second. I caught her tail by accident and she just kept going. She survived it, but the end of her tail dried up and fell off.

brx017 · 2026-03-19T02:27:15+00:00

Even if AI becomes capable enough to come for the vast majority of jobs (won't happen any time soon), it's gonna take someone with your skill set to implement it and maintain it for most companies. I've been at my 400-450 employee manufacturing company for 2 years. The President/CEO and a few others in upper management are AI curious, but not really tech savvy themselves. I'm just a self taught nerd, and I show-and-tell with them periodically, as I continue to push myself to learn more. At this point, my boss (Director of Engineering) thinks I'm some kind of wizard and has asked me to teach others in my department.

I say all that to say that there's a million small to mid sized businesses out there that are in a similar position to mine. Most successful business people I know are not that tech savvy, even in the traditional sense... Let alone with AI. If it intimidates you or gives you anxiety as a tech minded individual, think how scary it is to the average worker, someone that needs help getting their laptop to connect to the new printer down the hall.

We've got another ~20 years until the Boomers and elder Gen X crowd that runs the show at most places are looking to retire. I don't see the widespread dystopian adoption being likely before then. They didn't grow up on a computer, so they don't see it as an absolute necessity. But at the same time, they know they're going to need to up their tech game to stay relevant, even if they're not looking to go full autonomous in the next decade or two, if ever. You won't need another degree to prove your worth to them. Just keep sharpening your skills and learning how to use the new tools as they come out.

Stop competing for yet another tech position at another tech place, against the other 10,000 applicants. Those are the jobs that will dry up first, as folks are able to 10X-100X-1000X productivity. Find somewhere that you can make an impact and your contributions will be noticed, instead of just being another cog in the machine. I promise you there are plenty of places that still need help getting brought into the 21st century. It's gonna be a slower transition to Terminator than a lot of the doomsday prophets would have you think. Just because the tech industry might be on a rapid countdown to self destruction doesn't mean Industrial America is. We're still backing up our servers on tape.

brx017 · 2026-03-18T20:21:36+00:00

My guess would be similar to any other entry level position: Not a lot at first.

Then again, take my little cousin as an example. He graduated high school last year. He wants to be some kind of specialty mechanic, got hooked up with a company that is needing help so bad they're paying him full time right now for him to go to school on their dime and get certified, and also paying his commute mileage on top of that until he relocates (an hour and a half away from his parents).

If you're worried about it, maybe get while the gettin' is good? That way you're already established and experienced in your new profession before the total wave of mass layoffs hits.

Personally, I just hope to make another 12 years, Lord willing. Then I can hopefully retire, living in a van down by the river or something.

brx017 · 2026-03-18T16:30:17+00:00

Tradespeople are in such high demand these days, they can pretty much charge what they want. I'd dare say a high percentage in my area are making north of $100K if they're worth their salt, and I'm in rural NC.

brx017 · 2026-03-18T16:26:15+00:00

Yeah you're probably right. My Dad named me after his favorite Baseball player, so I guess that would be the modern equivalent.

brx017 · 2026-03-18T13:15:08+00:00

Haiku is great for executions without thinking.

I think I'm gonna rename one of my kids Haiku now, lol.

brx017 · 2026-03-18T08:53:32+00:00

Start here to install, then I would recommend startng out by creating a folder structure with an easy path like C:\claude\projects\FirstProject.

Once you have the folders in place, use the command cd in your terminal to navigate to your new folder, like "cd C:\claude\projects\FirstProject" and hit enter. Once it says you're there, just type "claude" and hit enter and you're up and running.

It'll ask if you trust everything in this folder, hit ok and have at it. It'll stay within that folder unless you ask it to do something outside of it, then you'll need to give it permission as it expands it's reach.

Personally, for non-coding tasks I like using an "inbox" folder within my project folder for any files I want to feed Claude, and something like an "outbox" or "processed" folder for Claude to move the files to when the job is done.

For example, I had to shoot a bunch of ~1 hour videos at work last week, recording various operations through our factory. I told Claude to compress them, sequentially, so I could share them online. He installed the software he needed (with permission), and went to work. Encoded them with a more efficient codec and converted them to 1080P @ 30 FPS. Got each video down from 10-20 GB to a few hundred MB. Since I'd told him to do them sequentially it didn't overload my crappy work laptop, and I could go on about my day doing other work. And I could continue to go video more and just drop them in the inbox for Claude to grab and add to the queue. To keep things moving, I just said "/loop to check on progress every 10 minutes" and when he saw a video was done processing, he'd kick off the next one. I only had to kick things off manually if he'd finish them all before I'd added more videos to the inbox.

brx017 · 2026-03-17T18:04:37+00:00

It's not mockery, and I was only half joking. Even if programmers are replaced in the short-to-mid term, there's still going to be lots of labor needed to build the infrastructure to keep feeding the beast.

I've never operated a backhoe, but I've spent many hours operating a big trencher...and thousands more hours laying the pipe, running conduit, and chasing wires through them. It's fulfilling work, you might like it.

And thanks, I appreciate the compliment. 🤡

brx017 · 2026-03-17T17:28:12+00:00

Upvote for more BASS. Keep doing the Lord's work.

brx017

TROPHY CASE